After Haruki's body and blood both evaporated into thin air in a shimmer of light, the audience was clearly confused, but they just assumed the mayor or someone else removed the corpse like that using an art.
Of course, the truth was because Haruki was a player, so he was probably in the middle of respawning right now, but the locals of Ascentia had no idea about that. They would soon change, however, as more and more 'dead' people started coming back from the dead.
As time passes, more and more players will die when going to dangerous places not yet explored. Eventually, the scale would be far too large to explain it with some sort of necromancy art or powerful artifact.
So far, Ascension: Online had only been out for a little over a month. Even the topmost players were still in Azrine - I knew this since I could check the Top 100 leaderboards via my System.
The top players' profiles are displayed for all to see, but their stat allocation, skills, and specific location are all hidden. The only things shown were their names, avatar, level, and continent.
So far, all the top players I've seen were still in the Azrine continent, exploring. The rank 1 player in this server was Level 103 - about 70 levels above me. Quite the distance, but not impossible to reach.
"The next match… 107 and 240!" the mayor announced after the stage had returned to normal.
From beside me, Furuwa sighed. "That's me… 107."
"Good luck," I said quietly.
"I'll be fine."
Saying this, she walked towards the stage confidently.
To be safe, I checked her opponent's stats, but it didn't work. I frowned.
"Aisa, is that dude a native of this reality plane, or did he also complete the Vault of Deception like me?" I asked without bothering to look down at the supercomputer, now in a little girl's body.
But after not receiving a response, I got suspicious and looked down.
"Aisa…?"
She stood perfectly still, seemingly normal. However… her eyes were dead.
"Aisa!" I called out, shaking her by the shoulders. But still no response.
"Kaze-kun, what's wrong?" Hina-nee asked, having just returned from the washroom.
"It's Aisa… she's not respondi-"
Suddenly, her entire body began glitching out. My eyes widened. I looked around, and after making sure no one was looking over in this direction, I picked Aisa's jittering body up and retreated to somewhere with less people - an alleyway between two buildings. Hina-nee followed.
Once we were safely out of eyesight, I placed Aisa down and shook her fiercely. "Aisa, what's going on?!"
[Warning——STATIC——S̡Y͢͞S̡̛T͞E̢̛M͠ ——STATIC——S͜H̴͢U͘͘͝T̨͢͏TI̡͟N̛͟G̶͞ DOW͠N͢͞ ]
Aisa's voice was no longer that of a human girl… no, she was returning back to her original form. Slowly, her figure began jittering and glitching even harder than before. My hands, originally on her shoulders, now passed straight through her body, as if she wasn't there at all.
"What… the hell?"
Thinking calmly, I quickly opened up my System and looked at the top navigation bar. Indeed - just as expected, the A.R.X.A. tab was there once more. It had been removed since she turned into physical form, but now, it returned. I quickly switched to it.
I didn't think I would ever be saying this, but at that moment, I was relieved to see A.R.X.A.'s robotic face displayed on my hologram.
"Aisa… what's going on?"
The screen flickered, her face glitching out just like her physical body moments before.
[Listen closely, hum—STATIC—an.]
"What?" I frowned in confusion.
[There is not—STATIC—much time. In seven days—STATIC—this world's reality will shatter.]
"Shatter? What do you mean?"
Ignoring my question, A.R.X.A. continued as her figure began glitching out and fading away more and more.
[I have been dea—STATIC—ctivated. You must bring me back online—STA—TIC—before a week passes.]
"I don't really understand, but sure. How do I bring you back online?"
The connection stabilized for a second there, allowing A.R.X.A. to communicate properly as her avatar stopped glitching out for a brief moment.
[Find the remaining Reality Rifts I was unable to repair. Seal them closed.] The AI said, as monotone as ever despite the situation. [That will disallow the Creator to interfere directly. I will then be able to enter this world and stabilize it.]
"Huh? This world? But what about all the other reality planes- what about Earth? And who is the Creato-"
[There is no time. Either you succeed—STATIC—or you and I, along with the rest of reality, go to ruin together.]
"Tch…" I gritted my teeth, frustrated and slightly annoyed.
[I have left you with a special power, to sense Reality Rifts. This is all I can help you with—STATIC—]
Then, her lifeless, mechanical eyes stared into mine one last time, before disappearing for good.
[—Good luck, human.]
I reached out to my screen. "Aisa… damn it."
Whether I would see those eyes again, was up to me and me alone.
*****
I closed my System, then hit the wall in anger "The hell… what happened to her…?"
"Kaze-kun…" Hina-nee murmured worriedly from behind me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "This is no time to mope. Remember, we only have seven days."
I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists tightly. "I know that… but she was just fine this morning. What the hell could've happened so suddenly? This doesn't seem to be just her testing me, either. She would never risk all of reality just to see how far I could go."
"Well, now that she's gone, it's not like we're going to be getting any answers anytime soon. Our best bet is to just find those Reality Rifts she was talking about, then seal them shut."
"Yeah, but how? She told me she gave me a power to sense reality rifts, but even if I find them somehow, she never said anything about how to seal them."
"… For now, we should head back to the tournament," Hina-nee said at last. "You still have not fought, Kaze-kun. Once that is over, we can discuss this issue in more detail back in the inn."
I let out a deep breath, knowing she was right. This matter was obviously more important, since all of reality depended on it, but it's not like we could discuss anything in this alleyway anyway. Might as well wait until I complete my match, then just head back to the inn.
"Yeah… let's go."
*****
When we got back, Furuwa had just completed her match.
"Kaze, it's your turn to fight. Hurry up. Where did you two go? And where's Aisa?" she asked, looking around in confusion.
"… Some shit happened," I muttered, subconsciously using profanity due to my frustration. "Just let me finish this match… I'll explain everything once we get back to the inn."
Furuwa frowned as she stared at my figure, slowly moving towards the stage.
"What's with him…?"
Hina-nee sighed. "You'll understand soon."
I walked up onto the platform. There, my opponent was waiting. A strong and sturdy man who appeared to use his bare fists, just like Koroth. I used Inspect on him, but it didn't work. Apparently, he was a native of Ascentia - assuming he didn't complete the Vault of Deception.
"Hey, puny brat. What took you so long?"
I sighed, ignoring his question, then glared at the mayor. "Can you hurry up and start the fight? I have things to do after this."
"Tch- brat!" my opponent gritted his teeth, cracking his knuckles.
"Ah, alright. It seems both sides are ready. In that case, 3… 2… 1… go!" the mayor said, signaling the beginning of the fight as the drums on either side of us were struck.
"I'll teach you a lesson today for ignoring me, kid!"
The man rushed towards me, fist ready to strike me straight in the face. However, he hit nothing but thin air as I used Blink to teleport behind him in an instant, then struck down towards his throat with Dokujin. Surprisingly, the cut wasn't strong enough to draw blood.
The man spun around, trying to catch my temple with a hook. With my AGI stat, however, dodging that was as easy as trampling an ant.
I let out a small sigh as I dashed backwards, annoyed with the fact that I didn't end the battle in one attack.
The man followed, jumping up and attempting to smash down on me this time. I used Vanishing Clouds to swerve around his attack, then stabbed straight into his body with all my might.
This time, it was strong enough to draw blood, but that was it.
I immediately retreated a short distance away, then dropped Dokujin back into my boots, the job finished.
"Heh… you managed to draw blood. I'll give you that - no other contestant has ever managed to do that to me so far, punk," my opponent muttered, turning around and looking at my back. "But if you think you've won just because you made a small cut on my body, you're very wrong."
"Oh? Is that so?"
I snapped my fingers and sent a thought in my head. The magic of Dokujin immediately went to work. The man's body seized up, eyes bulging, as he knelt down. He tried to open his mouth to talk, but couldn't - after all, I was controlling him.
"Hmph." I snorted, then walked off the stage, releasing my control on his body.
This was pretty disrespectful, but right now, I didn't really care. I had more important matters to be worrying about - I just wanted to get this done and over with as fast as possible.
"The winner of the match is without a doubt - contestant #15!"
As I walked away, I noticed Nadeshiko, now cleaned of all the blood, looking over at me with interest and giggling from a short distance away.
One after another, trouble keeps coming my way.